1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, a radio channel controller, a mobile station, a mobile switching center, and a radio channel controlling method, which are applied to the mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a mobile communication system, how definite radio resources are utilized in an efficient manner is generally required.
As to packet communication, it is believed that service performances sensed by users slightly differ between at the time of transmission and at the time of reception. In other words, the difference in the service performance depends on an active packet communication caused by a user's active action such as sending e-mail or a passive packet communication for a user such as receiving e-mail. In the former case, the degradation in the communication rate is strongly recognized by the user, whereas in the latter case, it is not recognized particularly.
There has been proposed a technique by which, at the time of a packet communication in a mobile communication system, radio resources are preferentially allocated, as the request level of data for immediacy is higher (see JP 2003-163667 A).
The technique described in JP 2003-163667 A is a radio resource controller, which allocates to a terminal device a preferential radio resource that can be used preferentially by the terminal device, on a radio channel. A radio resource among the preferential radio resources to be used for the terminal device is allocated on the basis of the accumulation packet amount accumulated in a transmission buffer that accumulates transmission packets to be transmitted by the terminal device.
The technique, which provides a base station, a radio resource controller, a terminal device, a communication system, and a communication method, is disclosed such that an allowable delay time required for the transmission packet is ensured, the wasteful allocation of the radio resources is prevented, and the efficient use of the radio resources is enabled.
In addition, in a mobile communication system, there has also been proposed a resource allocation method that is changed according to whether the system employs a real-time traffic or a non-real-time traffic. Hence, this intends to improve efficient use of the resources, ensure QoS, and improve service efficiency (see JP 2003-169363 A).
Further, there has been a proposal for providing a radio resource allocation method for aiming efficient use of the radio resources, while satisfying the required quality of the radio resources in a packet transmission (see JP 2003-258806 A).
According to the proposal of JP 2003-258806 A, a threshold value of the packet detention period in a base station is set. When the packet detention period to be scheduled to be sent to a wireless terminal in a group on which attention is focused is equal to or greater than the threshold value, a radio resource is preferentially allocated to the packet.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a technique of obtaining information based upon whether or not there has been a user's action relating to a mobile station, such as information representing that an operation section of the mobile station, for example, has been operated, information representing that the base station to be communicated with has been changed, or the like. Then, the action is taken according to the information (see JP 2003-264860 A).
The technique disclosed in JP 2003-264860 A has a purpose of storing the information on a user's action relating to the mobile station in association with the mobile station, and serving to presume safety of the user based on the stored information at the time of disaster.
Furthermore, there has been proposed a radio channel allocation method for allowing a user to select priority according to the circumstances, and allocating a radio channel to a mobile station according to the selected priority (see JP 2004-228905 A).
There has been another proposal for maintaining and managing resources in a base transceiver station apparatus effectively and flexibly under the condition of various call settings (see JP 2006-80884 A).
In the proposal of JP 2006-80884 A, as to resource consumption due to a request for a new call setting, the resources in the base transceiver station apparatus are changed flexibly, while the change in the setting is being suppressed by keeping the existing link to the utmost.
As described heretofore, JP 2003-163667 A discloses the technique of providing a base station, a radio resource controller, a terminal device, a communication system, and a communication method, thereby enabling effective use of the radio resources by securing the allowable delay time required for the transmission packet and preventing wasteful allocation of the radio resources.
The above technique, however, does not recognize a technical solution of allocating the definite radio resources according to whether or not the communication is established in response to the user's active conduct, while reducing (without increasing) the stress caused by the packet communication rate sensed by the user. This point is not recognized by any other patent documents described above, either.
By comparison, JP 2003-264860 A discloses the technical concept of identifying whether or not there has been a user's action on the mobile station and operating in response thereto.
The technique of JP 2003-264860 A, however, has a purpose of enabling confirming of the safety promptly, while protecting privacy, even if it is difficult to confirm the safety of a resident in a disastrous area such as an earthquake, because a communication cannot be established due to the network congestion.
Accordingly, the aforementioned technique does not focus attention on the reduction of the stress relating to the packet communication rate sensed by the user. Therefore, there have been no technical proposals for intending to handle such a focused attention.